A Dual Perspective on the MUN Collection: Historical Photography and Spirituality in Painting and Sculpture

The University of Navarra Museum presents a new perspective on its collection with two exhibitions: Ad Ineffabilem: An Adventure of subject , and Spirit and The Revealed Image: The MUN Photography Collection. Under the new artistic directi framework of Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, both exhibitions offer distinct approaches to the Museum’s collection—an invitation to explore the relationship between art and transcendence and a journey through the history of photography to the present day. These exhibitions are complemented by *Habitus et Praxis: Body, Clothing, and Tradition*, a fresh perspective on the * bequest * Ortiz Echagüe.

The exhibitions opening today reflect the MUN’s mission for its Collection: to research, preserve, disseminate, and even teach people how to contemplate art, thereby fostering renewed attention, a personal perspective, and a better knowledge of the world through art. This was the wish of the collector María Josefa Huarte: to show that art is one of the many paths to meeting with the transcendent. 

This dimension is essential to understanding the curatorial “ project ” of subject Ad Ineffabilem: An Adventure in Art and Spirit—an sample curated by María José Zegers-Correa and Marta García Alonso, architects and professors at the School of Architecture ( School of Architecture ) at the University of Navarra—and has also featured the partnership by Ricardo Piñer, Full Professor in Aesthetics. The sample invites us to cross a threshold toward a new way of seeing, one capable of opening itself to the ineffable. This is a “ project ” that requires pausing the flow of life to listen to that which has never ceased to speak to us from time and space, from form and “ subject.” The “ exhibition ” stems from the “ purpose ” of making works of art a path toward the transcendent, so that, through contemplation, the visitor may draw closer to the ineffable. The “ subject ” of art thus becomes a path toward a “ meeting .” 

The " project " exhibition drew on a research about the collection and its artists. Curator María José Zegers-Correa states that it was a “ work ” (artistic journey) filled with “ research ” (insights) to understand the artists and their works, and how each conceived their relationship with the transcendent. From this “ research ” (artistic journey) emerged four concepts that group the works and, at the same time, encompass all of created reality—time, space, form, and “ subject” (the transcendent)—which give the galleries their names and structure the “ pathway ” (exhibition layout). The “ conference room ” (Time) section is divided into three areas that articulate fragmentation, eternity, and the instant, featuring works by Picasso, Rothko, Sistiaga, and Zóbel. “Space,” on the other hand, is conceived as a single white, cubic “ Issue ,” in which Oteiza’s works explore the concept of emptiness. In “Forma,” Palazuelo’s works express the order that gives rise to reality—the “ finding ” of a hidden geometry. And finally, in “ subject ,” we find the work of Antoni Tàpies, among which “L’esperit català” stands out as the central theme of “ project,” since it announces, within the work itself, that equality between “ subject ” and spirit. 

Regarding the design of the exhibition space, curator Marta García Alonso explains that the “ project ” sought to offer an experience different from the usual. “Until now, the galleries were open spaces where the works shared the same area, and we realized that our ‘ project ’ had to be radically different. We created boundaries to conceal the artwork, so that access to the artwork itself would evoke a sense of wonder.” Lighting and intimacy have also been fundamental elements in the design of the exhibition layout, allowing visitors to engage with art in a different and more staff way. Given the importance of the space and its furnishings, the curators and professors will launch an project Innovation professor at the Degree of design to design specific furniture for art contemplation where all subject of visitors—people of different ages and backgrounds—can engage in contemplation.

This new perspective on the Collection is also reflected in the exhibition "The Revealed Image: The MUN’s Photographic Collection", curated by Ignacio Miguéliz, the Museum’s manager of Collections and Exhibitions. In the “ conference room ” (Photography Gallery) on Level 0, the exhibition presents a comprehensive overview spanning nearly 200 years of history, from the medium’s inception in 1839 to contemporary works. “ exhibition ” (Photography: A New Perspective) explores both the technical and documentary aspects of “ discipline ” and its ability to construct narratives about identity, history, and social reality. 

The exhibition is organized into three major chronological sections. The first, focusing on the 19th century, explores the origins of the medium through daguerreotypes, albumen prints, carbon prints, and calotypes. It highlights international photographers drawn to Spain’s romantic “ statement of core values ,” such as Gustave de Beaucorps, Louis De Clercq, and Alphonse De Launay, as well as Charles Clifford, Jane Clifford, and Jean Laurent. The second section covers the 20th century and the consolidation of the medium through movements such as pictorialism, avant-garde photography, social- subject l documentary photography, and war photography. It features artists such as Josep Brangulí, Rafael Sanz Lobato, and Juan Dolcet, as well as the perspectives of foreign photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Eugene Smith. A central role is played by the collection on the Spanish Civil War, featuring images by Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, Agustín Centelles, and Pere Catalá Pic, as well as the subsequent renewal led by the group Afal, and the schools in Madrid and Barcelona (Ramón Masats, Gabriel Cualladó, Francesc Català-Roca, Joan Colom), and the expansion into the Ibero-American collection (Martín Chambi, Graciela Iturbide, Alberto Korda).

Finally, the discussion turns to 21st-century photography, and a central focus of this dialogue is the “Tender Puentes” artist-in-residence program—a MUN initiative launched in 2003 that has hosted 39 contemporary artists, including Joan Fontcuberta, Bleda and Rosa, Pierre Gonnord, Cristina Middel, and Vik Muniz, who draw inspiration from the Museum’s photography collection to create new works. With this “ proposal,” the MUN reinforces its commitment to the dissemination, conservation, and study of its photography collection, offering fresh perspectives. 

In addition, visitors can explore the museum’s new exhibition, “ proposal ,” dedicated to the “ bequest Ortiz Echagüe,” at the Ortiz Echagüe Space( Floor -1 ) Habitus et Praxis: Body, Clothing, and Tradition. This exhibition offers a contemporary reflection on clothing and the repetition of gestures and rituals.